Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Well I was able to finish up the Knights late last week, ahead of a crazy weekend filled with parties, BBQs, pools, deck-staining, and the slightest bit of sleeping. Above (and below) you can see the Knights with their shields in place. I'm very happy with how they look.

And the winner is... Thanks to Bucky for his comment on a previous post regarding a possible phrase to go on the banner for my Knights of Morr. The phrase chosen was "Deficit Omne Quod Nasciture" - Everything that is born passes away. Although I now realize I spelled deficit incorrectly. I'll fix that up this week.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

On Thursday I got the parts back from my friend Thomas, who cast up the arms and shields that I sculpted for the spearmen. I'm also using the shields on the Knights (hence the knightly close up above). I wasted no time in getting some assembled, and even managed to paint up a few. Photos below.

There are four different shield designs (rose, scythe, hourglass, and skull), three left arms, and three right arms. The spears themselves are made from brass rod from the Gale Force 9 Pinning set, at 1.8mm (I think) they are a perfect size. The blades on top are carved from 1mm plasticard into crescent/scythe shapes and are designed to look like "war scythes" that were polearms used in the 17th Century (and probably much earlier and a little bit later). This idea was suggested by a reader back at the start of the project. Although they are a bit of work to make each one individually, I think they look great.

And finally, here are the original sculpts I made a week or so before Adepticon.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

First of all, the flames have been painted! Check that off the list. 30 models down, only 50 or so to go.

And now, on to the Spearmen. you my remember back in March and early April when I was sculpting heads for my Spearmen and other attendants. Well, at Adepticon I was able to give these heads to my friend Chris Borer. That's right, FOUR-time Slayer Sword winner Chris Borer. I had managed to cajole Chris into doing me the hugest of favors by casting up the heads. You might be asking yourself why I asked Chris to do it? Well, here's why.

Last year Chris helped us raise a ton of money for Doctors Without Borders with our Heroes of Armageddon project. Chris sculpted (from scratch) and painted up a Master of Ordnance for the Steel Legion army. You can see that model here. Chris has since decided to start a little sideline business, selling a few casts of some of his cool minis. This business is Full Borer Miniatures, check it out.
Anyway, last year Chris sent me a copy of his Artillerist, perfectly cast in resin, and by perfectly cast I mean PERFECTLY cast. I just knew I had to have Chris replicate every flaw in my sculpting, and he did just that.

Please note: Chris has pointed out that doing this was a bit of a pain in the butt, so he will NOT be offering a casting service.

Above are the four "Venetian" style masks I sculpted for my Spearmen.

And here are the perfect casts from Chris.

And here are the first five models to have their heads attached. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking "Those heads look a little big". And you'd be right. One of the four I sculpted was about the right size, one is about 5% too large, and the other two are about 15% over-sized. All my fault, I didn't pay close enough attention when sculpting them up. However, once the arms and so on are attached, I'm very confident I can mitigate any concerns with painting.

More photos to come soon of the arms and shields that were cast up for me by another friend. It's good to know a lot of talented people!

And as a final teaser, here are the first five Knights of Morr, just awaiting their shields (and a motto for the flapping banner on the Standard Bearer. Suggestions for this motto are welcome in the comments below.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Well, it has been a very busy week indeed. I had intended to post this pic up earlier, but things like a new daycare location for my girls, a new cold/flu from my girls, and the arrival of the cast heads for my spearmen have all taken up far too much time.

Anyway, here they are in all their almost-finished glory. I say almost because I still need to finish off the flames on two burning-brazier heads and about eight torches. Shouldn't be too tough to slip in somewhere. This weekend I'll be racing to finish painting the first five Knights of Morr, so that the following week I can get cracking on building thirty or so spearmen - with heads, arms, shields, and weapons all sculpted by me - and cast by a couple of friends!

Should be fun, but not much time to go, only six weeks from this Saturday until the in-store Armies On Parade "judgement day".

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Just a quick one this Mothers' Day, but here are a few elements for the centerpiece craziness for my Procession of Morr army. Imagine that bell hoisted up above those steps, with the Doomsayer to the right preaching from above the hooded skeletons, the whole thing mounted on wheels and pulled by the flagellants in stocks.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Woohoo! I have my lights back and can get started on showing you some of the models I've been working on since getting back from Adepticon.

Above are Flagellants 21-30. Once I have those figures at the back of the photo painted up and based I'll take a shot of them all together.

Above (and below) are the first five Knights of Morr assembled and ready for paint. I have all the parts for another five EXCEPT for the heads. If anyone out there has a handful of the Chaos Warrior skull helms that they'd be willing to part with, please contact me via the email in my profile on the right.

And finally a new Amethyst wizard has been added to the ranks : )

Not long now, just under two months until the in-store date for the Armies On Parade competition. I'll be reminding you all about it several times and hopefully some of you can make it to the White Marsh, MD, GW store to vote for my army.

GW's NEW RANGE OF PAINTS

I've had a few people ask me about the new paint range from GW. I haven't said anything publicly about them, as I'm still dipping my toes in the water, so to speak. I think over the next few months I'll start a mini-series of mini-posts on a new color or colors I've used and what I think of them and the paint they replaced.

Hobby Activity for 2013

Hobby Activity for 2012

About Me

I've been modeling, painting, and playing with toy soldiers since 1991. Over the years I've painted thousands of miniatures, primarily for Games Workshop's games, but I've also tackled some great historical miniatures. You can keep up with my current projects here on this blog.
If you would like to discuss painting toy soldiers you can contact me at tanithtaylor at gmail dot com

The Disassociation Clause

I'm adding this little bit of text to help make it clear for visitors to this blog that it (and my activities) are in no way endorsed by, or directly connected to, Games Workshop Group PLC. As this blog is a reflection/presentation of my hobby - painting toy soldiers (primarily, but not exclusively, those designed and produced by Games Workshop) - it is important to point out that the copyright for the GW miniatures I do present on this site remains with Games Workshop, just as the copyright for miniatures from other companies remains with those respective companies.

Followers

Games Workshop's Legal Disclaimer

This web site is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited.